Manticores
|upkeep_cost = |num_figures = |moves = |melee = |defense = |resist = |hits = |abilities = Poison Touch 6 Scouting }} Manticores are a type of Normal Unit. This unit is unique to the Beastmen Race, and can only be built in Beastmen towns, for the Construction Cost of . The town must already contain both a Barracks and an Animists' Guild for this to be possible. Manticores are airborne shock-cavalry, and are quite powerful in taking out entire Normal Units. Manticores utilize their speed and Flying ability to pick out their targets and eliminate them. During Melee combat, the Manticores rely primarily on a Poison Touch attack which can cause significant damage to units with low Resistance scores. The Manticores' normal Melee Attack is not too powerful on its own, but can still do serious damage to Normal Units. Manticores require an Upkeep Cost of and to maintain. Failure to pay these costs will result in the unit being disbanded automatically. Unit Properties Physical Description Manticores are bizarre creatures, with different body parts normally found on other creatures. They have the face of a man, the body of a lion, two large bat wings, and the tail and stinger of a scorpion. While they can attack with their sharp claws, Manticores generally rely on their deadly venom to kill their targets. Manticores are a , though containing only when fully healed. Attack Properties The Manticores rely on two separate attacks that are used simultaneously - a strong Melee Attack, and a dangerous Poison Touch attack. Depending on the target's properties, either attack could be the more dangerous component. Each Manticore's Melee Attack has a strength of by default. With this score, each Manticore delivers an average damage output of per attack, a high amount that can easily go through light or even medium armor. With both attacking simultaneously, the Manticores are likely to inflict at least some damage to most opponents. In addition to normal Melee Damage, Manticores also carry out a Touch Attack delivering 6 points of Poison Damage per Manticore. The target does not make Defense rolls against this attack - instead it makes Resistance rolls (at no penalty), with each failed roll resulting in to the target. The average damage output is therefore completely dependent on the enemy's Resistance score, but will be very high against low-resistance targets. Targets possessing Poison Immunity or a Resistance score of or higher are completely immune to the Poison Touch attack. Such targets will only suffer Melee Damage, if any, from the Manticores. Defense Properties Manticores possess rather average armor, with a default Defense score of . This allows them to block about from any incoming attack. This should only protect the Manticores from low-tier enemy Normal Units, and possibly some Ranged Attacks. Fortunately, Manticores are also quite healthy, with each creature having , for a total of per unit. This is roughly comparable to the Hit Points of a Cavalry unit, granting the Manticores mediocre survivability. Of course, the ability to Fly means that most Walking and Swimming units cannot attack the Manticores in Melee combat, giving further protection to this unit as it crosses the battlefield. Finally, Manticores possess a fairly-high Resistance scores of a Normal Unit. Their default Resistance is . This can occasionally save the Manticores from Curses and other ill effects, but is roughly as likely to fail. With , Manticores can become significantly more resistant to such effects. Other Properties Manticores are Flying creatures and are fairly quick. They have a Movement Allowance of , which allows them to travel rapidly both on the overland map and during combat. This is particularly important in combat, as the unit requires speed to reach the lowest-Resistance targets, which it can easily eliminate. Basic Strategy In the Beastmen army, Manticores provide the ability to quickly get rid of weaker enemies on the battlefield, including any target that has either a low Defense score or a low Resistance score. In battle, the Manticores can cover the distance to almost any target with haste. Enemy Ranged Attackers are often the best initial targets, both because they generally lack armor, but also because they tend to pose more of a threat to the Flying Manticores themselves. Once these are dealt with, the Manticores can continue choosing other low-armor/low-resistance targets to chomp them up. Sadly, Manticores are not too efficient against stronger targets. With only , the Manticores' attack is not very useful against well-armored and highly-resistant units. Nonetheless, some Fantastic Creatures possess low Resistance scores, and are thus vulnerable to Manticores. A group of Manticores can gang up on such creatures and kill them fairly easily. Do try to watch the Manticores' Hit Points however, as they are not high enough to consistently protect this unit during Counter Attacks. Ability Overview Scouting * Increases the unit's Sight Range to 2. On the overland map, this unit can now reveal the fog-of-war and detect enemy units within 2 tiles of its position (including diagonals). * : Flying units do not benefit from this ability at all, as their Sight Range is already 2 tiles in each direction. This ability should've increased Sight Range further for such units, but it does not. Poison Touch 6 * During this unit's Melee Attack, each will also make a Touch Attack against the target, delivering 6 points of Poison Damage per attack. * The target unit must make 6 consecutive Resistance rolls against each Poison Attack. For each roll the target fails, it receives . * The Poison Damage is dealt simultaneously with the exchange of Melee Damage between the two units. * The Poisoning also occurs when this unit Counter Attacks against an enemy assailant. * This effect does nothing against targets possessing the Poison Immunity ability. Experience Table The following table illustrates how Manticores improve as they gain Experience. Any properties that are not listed here do not improve with Experience in any way. * To achieve this level, either the Warlord Retort or the Crusade spell must be in play. ** To achieve this level, both the Warlord Retort and the Crusade spell must be in play simultaneously. Average Damage Output The table below details the average amount of damage that each in a Manticores unit will deliver with each type of attack, based on . It can be used in comparison to the target's Defense rating to figure out the chance of hurting that target. Acquisition Manticores are unique to the Beastmen, and thus may be produced in any Beastmen Town. A town must contain both the Barracks and the Animists' Guild to be able to produce Manticores. Should a town lose either its Barracks or Animists' Guild, it can no longer produce Manticores until replacement structures are built. The Construction Cost of this unit is . Manticores may appear for hire as Mercenaries. They may already have some Experience on being hired, and several units may be hired simultaneously. Hiring these units requires a certain cost in that depends on many different factors. Manticore Mercenaries have the same Upkeep Cost as a normally-constructed unit. Category:Units Category:Normal Units Category:Beastmen